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Sunday, February 12, 2012

RELIGION – A BLACK MARK IN THE HANDS OF VOTERS

The world is
full of diversity and it makes the world beautiful. The problem starts when one
starts stratifying the diversity, rather than enjoying and accommodating it.
When I was assigned to enumerate the disadvantages of a Republican nation, the
first issue that came into my mind was caste. Castes outnumber districts in
India and each district has many castes within it. So, when a representative
has to be elected from a district, politicians start playing the caste game to
infatuate the voters by instigating their herd instincts.

Politicians, like the British, follow the
“Divide and Rule” policy in this multi-cultural nation, for their gain. The
people, while electing their representative, should bear broader perspectives
and long term benefits in their mind rather being subjective to their caste and
religion. The matter discussed here is
the influence of religion, caste and cash on Indian Election and ultimately on
Indian Politics.

To start with,
I present you the inference of a survey that was conducted in Uttar Pradesh (UP)
- the hotbed for caste gambling - about the ongoing Assembly Election there
(written on the Op-Ed page of The Hindu dated
28/11/2011 URL : http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2665895.ece).

There, the Jatav community people are
supporting Mayawati’s Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) as she hails from that
community and raised the social position of the community in the state. Mulayam
Singh ‘Yadav’ is supported by Yadav community. Though Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) Ajit singh is
a Jat Community leader, he and his ally Congress depends on the support of
Muslims. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as anticipated, takes the issue of
Ayodhya and is backed by some Hindus.

After reading
this, I wonder what for the election in India is meant for. Is that used for
electing a political leader or a religious (or) community leader? We want to keep
in mind that election is the main institution in India to implement democracy
and vote is the main power vested with the people to decide the fate of the
country. If we misuse this power the whole national integrity of the country
gets pulverized.

In an article
written to The Hindu titled “Umpiring
a Gigantic exercise” dated 4/1/2012 ( URL : http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2772437.ece), former Chief Election Commissioner of India,
Navin Chawla mentioned that during the May 2009 General Elections, a polling
station was set up deep inside the Gir Forest for a single person to cast his
single vote. This is the value given to the vote by the Constitution of India.
If we adulterate this value, it would be the pinnacle of disrespect given to the
Constitution and to our freedom fighters.

Moreover, when
people look for a person’s religion or caste, they will sure forget his/her
intellect, social responsibility and caliber. People believe that when a person
of our religion or caste gets elected, he/she will do beneficiaries in favour
of them. Automatically when got elected, they will give incentives and frame
policies in a manner that the people of majority community is benefited,
leaving behind the minority community in despair. In this way, religion has
become a tool in the hands of politicians to deceive the people and to reduce
the value of the vote.

At last, the
influence of money on Indian elections. These are regular features of elections
held in South India. Thanks to the meticulous work done by the Election
Commission, crores of rupees were seized in 2011 Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections that
were to be distributed to the people to buy their vote. People want to realize
that if a person is ready to give money or anything else to woo their votes
before the election, he/she will never turn to them after they got elected. Because,
their aim is to go to the House and to accumulate wealth. Not even a single
percent to serve the people.

So, do take the
election process serious and do not ever underestimate the value given to your
vote. Do some analysis before electing your representative.